March 29, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of Peace Luv Biz, hosts Steve and Mary break down the biggest red flags to watch out for when working with accountants and bookkeepers. From gatekeeping financial information to hidden fees and missed deadlines, these warning signs could be costing you money...and even putting your business at risk.
They also dive into why your financials must add up when selling a business and how legal accounting practices ensure you get the best deal. Whether you're a small business owner or looking to switch accounting firms, this episode will help you stay informed, protected, and in control of your finances.
🟣 Special Mention: Purple Day (March 26th) 🟣
At Peace Luv Biz, we recognize Purple Day, an international day dedicated to raising awareness about epilepsy. It's a reminder to support those affected, spread knowledge, and advocate for better understanding. If you or someone you know is impacted by epilepsy, take a moment to learn more and show your support! 💜
Key Takeaways:
✅ Why you should always have full access to your financials.
✅ How to spot misleading agreements and hidden fees.
✅ The risks of poor accounting when selling a business.
✅ Proactive steps to ensure transparency and accuracy.
Be sure to subscribe and visit www.peaceluvbiz.com for a free consultation where we can evaluate your current accounting situation and offering more expert insights to keep your business finances on track! 🎙️💰
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Peace, Love, Biz.
I'm your host, Steve Higgins, sitting here with Mary.
We are deep into tax season.
We are kicking butt.
Mary is just going all hours of the day, just completely dominating.
I think there's going to be a general theme for this episode, which is going to be aninteresting one to talk about.
(00:27):
But before we dive into that, how are you doing, Mary?
I am so amazing.
So, so, so, so amazing.
I know you're amazing, but how are you?
Um, you know, I'm kicking ass, kicking ass.
Um, so yeah, I don't, don't, well, I know how I'm doing it.
(00:48):
I'm just doing it because like, I love what we do.
I have so much energy.
I mean, I crash at night.
It takes me three, four hours to shut down.
Wine helps.
I'll own that.
Wine is getting me through tax season.
It's the only way to turn my brain off.
But, um,
I started with 170 returns and I'm down to 106.
(01:13):
And 70...
Yeah, so I've done, I've done, well no, over 170, but I've done 70 in like five days.
Yeah, and the whole goal of this year was to make sure that it was sticking a tax seasonand not tax year.
Definitely on track for that, which is going to be amazing.
(01:39):
why don't we talk?
So this is going to be a fun discussion because with what we do and the way that weoperate, we operate with integrity, clear communication, this is what we need from you,
this is what we're going to give to you and tell us what you need from us.
(02:02):
We set very clear expectations from the start.
Yeah, absolutely.
And what we are encountering, the people that I'm talking to that need help, more thannine out of ten people are being gatecapped.
They are having a fight for their financial information from other firms, accountants,bookkeepers, CPAs, whatever it is.
(02:30):
And it's quite frankly ridiculous.
It's unethical.
They basically want to hold you hostage and keep your information from you.
And it's a massive red flag.
That's why...
turn over willingly, it's like takes like it's a 12 step program to get it done.
(02:52):
It's all legal.
You have to go through all legal channels to get it.
So, but I will say that I've told you about this prior to us doing this business togetherand like you believed it, but you never realized how much it happens.
And this week, literally nine out of 10 people we've even countered, it's happened.
(03:13):
Yeah.
The is, it's not always easy to recognise immediately, but what would you say are some redflags, some key indicators that this kind of thing might happen when going through this
onboarding process or something like that?
(03:34):
Well, to start with whatever software they're using, if it's something like QuickBooksOnline, if they're the primary admin of it, then they're holding, they're going to hold
your books hostage.
We, I make a point to not be primary admin.
When, when I, I make sure that the business owner is a primary admin and that I haveaccountant access only.
(04:02):
because
If something happens, don't...
Dude, that's you.
I will never hold someone's book's hostage.
Won't do it.
You're just setting up for bad karma?
I mean...
you're gonna get a bad reputation on top of it.
It's like, whoa.
(04:23):
They don't want you around, they don't want you around.
Just be okay with it.
Yeah, people, service providers need to be okay in the fact that look, some people willonly want you to do certain things and we're okay with that.
That's just how you want to run your business.
But it comes to a point where if you can't even have access to your own financial reports,you can't take them out of a remote desktop software or something like that because they
(04:53):
want to keep you under lock and key.
That's why my name today is the Locksmith.
because we're trying to pick those locks and gatekeep software so that's a massive redflag.
People still using QuickBooks desktop is a red flag to me in this day and age.
this week when we had to do that.
(05:13):
my God, you saw me.
was like, ooh, I mean, the last time I used QuickBooks desktop, my son was alive.
What does that say?
I mean, it's been eight years.
mean, that's how long is the last time I've touched QuickBooks desktop.
I didn't even know that was a thing.
Like that's like, what, what?
That's like somebody asking for a fax number.
(05:34):
That's where that is equitable to me.
It's like,
Yeah, and when you...
When the owner of the company is not able to then export or manage any company datathrough that software, it's like massive alarm sirens going off.
It's like, this is a little nuts.
(05:55):
We're have to figure out...
the sad part is, that up like there should be a lot of red flags.
mean, you should be paying attention to red flags.
God knows we've all been in some type of relationship, whether it's, you know, romantic orfriendship or trend, you know, with an accountant or with a lawyer.
You see red flags all the time.
(06:16):
We choose to either pay attention or to ignore them.
That's what we choose to do.
If you're paying attention, then
Get a plan in action in place.
You may not be able to do something overnight, but at least get a plan in action in place.
If you're ignoring them, boo boo, this is your fault.
Pay attention to it.
(06:38):
I'm a big person, pay attention to what's happening around you.
So it's not like all of sudden you can't access your financials or they're not responding.
They've been doing this.
They've been ignoring you.
You have not been able to communicate.
You have not been able to get this.
And now you're done.
(06:59):
And I'm not sure why anybody's surprised at this point that the accountant shouldn't besurprised that the client's done.
The client shouldn't be surprised that the accountant's holding them hostage.
Although ethically wrong, they should still not be surprised by it because the actionshave shown all this trending this way.
(07:22):
think you know exactly right and know communication is a massive part of it and there's afew different facets to that.
First off any and if there is any communication for one if your accountant just wants tosee you at tax time bring you receipts like that's not a relationship that's a
transaction.
(07:42):
Yeah.
And if they want you to bring receipts to them, that right there, don't ever send me areceipt.
You better scan that crap.
I don't want to see paper.
Sorry.
no, and that wasn't really where I was going with it, but yeah, that's a fair point aswell.
You know, we're not in that day and age anymore.
(08:03):
But the other thing is how clear and concise is the account or are they just giving youvague answers that sound good but have zero substance?
Why that's something that people really need to watch for.
What's unfortunate is there are so many good accountants in the industry, it feels likethere's two types of accountants now where it's you've got those that really want to take
(08:32):
care, they want to go above and beyond, but then you've got others where it's like, okay,we'll see you at tax time.
And that's it.
If at that point you wonder if, you know, shoot, you may as just go to H &R Block, right?
right now I'm laughing because I know I'm really trying hard to think.
I know one other good accountant, like on my level.
(08:59):
I mean, besides the ones that work for us, to clarify.
But I do partner with him.
And that's why we've stayed, we partner.
He handles a lot of certain things that I don't handle.
I pass off to him because I just don't like to do it.
And he doesn't like to do the stuff I do.
But like, so I can't, I mean, maybe there are good accountants.
(09:20):
I don't know anybody.
I know one and then our people, but that
The problem is people don't do what they love.
They're not passionate about it.
We're almost too accessible, but thank God I do not disturb that my phone automaticallygoes on at seven o'clock every night, because I got a text message at one o'clock in the
(09:45):
morning from a client.
And they know if I'm up, I'll respond.
That's the sad part.
And I will.
I will.
I'll be like, I'm up.
What do you need?
Blah, blah,
Yeah, there's not there's not the investment.
You got to do what you love, man.
Accountants, I get it.
People have jobs, but jobs are just over broke.
That's what job stands for.
(10:05):
Just over broke.
mean, get up, get a profession, do something you love, be passionate about it.
Like you only get to go around one time.
Like make every moment happen.
And we've had a lot of frustrating moments this week.
Super frustrating.
Like.
They just don't stop.
(10:26):
It's not just the 70 taxes that have been done in five days.
It's 70 taxes jumping on it last minute phone calls because people have their financialsbeing held hostage, all this other stuff.
Yastra's, a client of ours started another business, stopped what I was doing, jumped inand handled that, set that up.
But I love it.
(10:47):
I absolutely love what I do.
So find something you like to do and do it.
Don't let your accountants hold your stuff hostage.
Find someone that loves to help and loves to get business growth and just find somebody.
Yeah, and my dad's gonna kill me but he told me when I was trying to figure out what Iwant to do is like do something that you really love or do something that you're really
(11:16):
good at and we'll make you money and thankfully with what you do and what I do I thinkwe've got that good I say happy medium because we are making decent money we're doing what
we love so we've got both of those components but
Not everybody's gonna find that.
(11:37):
But...
Don't...
But get out of the way of the people that wanna do that.
Like...
So...
And like you can have a you can have I mean, you can have a lot of work experience and alot of things like I have experience in a lot of different avenues, but I love accounting
and taxes.
(11:58):
So I stick with that.
That's what I love to do.
That's what I stick with.
Stick with what you like to do.
I can't tell you how many times and Stephen knows this.
I would say this is a nine out of 10 for sure.
Like every person that we've onboarded.
Rarely do we have someone go, I have no idea what I'm doing, I need you to handle it.
(12:20):
We have, oh, I know how to do my own books.
Well, they're wrong.
So you don't.
how many times we go into new clients that says I've done my own books for years and I'mthey're so wrong and I mean like you look at it and it's like well there's technical
(12:41):
accuracies no that's another story that we'll get into in a little bit but like there's
You don't do your own plumbing, you don't do your own electrical work, you're gonna killyourself.
You're essentially doing that to your business if you don't have a professional.
(13:03):
Do your books, do your accounting, do your legal agreements.
It doesn't matter what it is, stick to what you're good at.
We tell our restaurant owner, go cook the meals, not the books.
Go chef, go do what you love.
So.
Yeah.
(13:24):
But and back to like good accountant, like the red flags, they're holding the stuffhostage.
They don't have time for you.
You're a number.
If I mean, if that's what you want, go for it.
Be a transaction.
I mean, that's fine.
You know, but if you want help with your business and you want to have information and youwant, you know, feedback and help affording a home and help doing all those things like we
(13:50):
were talking about last week.
You do not want a transactional relationship with your accountant.
And we don't, we do not do that.
I don't want anything transactional.
That's not me.
Like, bye.
You can go find somebody for that.
It's not me.
I have no desire for it.
I think the other thing is we get too emotionally invested in a lot of our clients.
(14:15):
That's a struggle that I was talking about that last night with Rach and it's like, Ithink I've got a problem.
It's like, I can't shut my brain off thinking about client businesses, helping them,figuring out ways to make them grow.
But I also wonder how much they care about the feedback, how much they want the feedback.
And that's my own struggle, I guess, at this point.
(14:39):
I also think that like, I hate using this because I hated when I had to hear it, but I dothink age has something to do with it and experience has something to do with it.
Like I have my cutoff point.
I just don't, I get to a point where I have done everything I to help you.
You are not responding.
(14:59):
Bye.
I'm done.
And I am very much, I'm a Leo.
I'm very black and white.
your best friend and your worst enemy.
And worst enemy, not that I'm going to do something to you, like I am done.
You are dead to me.
I don't know what else to tell you.
I could care less.
(15:19):
Now that part you're not, you don't have, but I definitely have it.
That's more of my sales mentality though because in sales you've always got to...
That one time that you don't reach out is going to be the missing in a sale.
Right?
So I've just got that ingrained in me that I will give somebody that one more chance to dosomething and it...
(15:44):
I think that is to my detriment but it's also...
Yeah, it's painful.
I just, I have, I, I mean, also it's, you know, because of my incredibly, you can't makethis shit up life, that I go, it's just not worth it anymore.
I don't give a fuck how much money I could be walking away from.
(16:06):
It's not worth my peace of mind.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Done.
And I'm learning that.
I'm learning that from you.
I'm learning it from Justin.
I'm learning it from others.
But shout out to Justin as well, by the way, for all of his help and guidance.
But yeah, it's.
It's a problem.
(16:29):
Moving on, similar type of vein, I mentioned technical accuracies.
Mary had.
God, I really forgot how much drama has happened this week.
I'm like, crap, that was this week too.
Everything was this week.
(16:49):
We've been helping a friend who's looking at buying a business and Mary provided aforensic audit.
The feedback from the business broker is hysterical, it's alarming in the fact thatsomebody thinks that true accounting is technically accurate and it isn't pointing out the
(17:11):
fact that most of the stuff is illegally presented.
But yeah, what-
What do you want to say about that?
there's not...
There's not versions of the truth.
I can't remember who said that.
But I know I heard it from somewhere.
(17:32):
But there's not versions of the truth.
There's just the truth.
I know it's from a TV show.
I know you're gonna Google it and tell me, but yeah.
It's the truth or it's not.
That's it.
There's just not versions of it.
I don't know how else to get that across.
So the same thing is with accounting.
(17:56):
Accounting is binary.
Like it just is what it is.
You can't go, well, it's kind of different for a small business.
no, I mean, I swear this week I have said more times between ethics and do people are
(18:16):
People have a desire to see the inside of a jail cell.
Because there's this big word called fraud.
It's a big little word.
Five letters that...
Yeah.
You know, it's like, that's fraud.
don't, I don't know, maybe because, maybe because there was somebody convicted on like 34counts of it and still became president, they're not worried.
(18:43):
I don't know, but I can tell you, he's good.
Like, he's not in jail.
That doesn't mean you're not gonna be in jail.
That's just him, dude.
That's just him.
Yeah.
Front of Srad.
I mean...
(19:03):
And you might not be going to jail, right?
So that's like the worst case scenario.
But the other thing is that the more reality is, is that at some point it's going to biteyou in the butt.
You don't...
I testified in court where a guy presented all his W-2s so he could get a loan for hishouse and he got the loan for a house and it was a VA loan.
(19:29):
So it's federally backed.
mean, everything's federally backed, but it was truly federally backed, origination point.
But when it came to talent support, somehow he had no income.
I remember this one.
And he said literally, and he was his own attorney.
(19:50):
So that should tell you everything right there.
You don't get to have W-2 income for whatever year to qualify for a loan and then go, Idon't have any.
And then he says, well, don't you know, you can pull down a W-2 and make one online.
And I said, I'm a forensic accountant.
(20:11):
I'm not.
I'm not an expert in how to commit fraud.
I'm an expert on how to say it.
What is fraud?
And what ended up happening?
I mean, his choice really came down to, was the judge's decision, it came down to eitheryou got a fraudulent loan from the federal government or you're to pay $150,000 in child
(20:33):
support.
And he had to pay a lot of money in child support.
You just don't get to have both of it.
It's gonna bite you in the butt at some point.
It's just going to.
Yeah, like depreciation or car expense.
Yeah.
you don't, yeah.
(20:55):
There's like 10 bullet points on that.
Yeah, numbers tell a story.
I think we talked about this.
There's a few things I want to touch on with this story, but numbers do tell a story.
You can't argue what the story is to suit your own agenda.
The numbers tell the story.
(21:17):
You can't say that a business that has been declining year over year for last five yearsis gonna just bounce back because of new ownership.
It's possible because, you know, there's somebody that actually gives a shit about thebusiness and...
But we talked about how business owners that are looking to sell need to get into theprocess earlier of...
(21:45):
I to sell the business early, it takes time to get the right stuff in place.
You cannot say...
Yeah, I don't really know where I'm going with this.
really think the key of all of it with everything we're talking about, for me the keyreally is, I'm not this person, but in general, I think most people are very comfortable
(22:12):
lying to themselves to the point that they believe their own lie.
And that's just, that's not reality.
Like, I mean, maybe you've convinced yourself that's real.
That doesn't make it real.
I mean, that's really what it's coming down to.
(22:34):
I could tell myself I'm a size eight every day, but I'm not.
If I believe it, doesn't make me a size eight.
It doesn't make me 150 pounds.
It just doesn't.
I don't, I can't understand the mentality, but I do think that's the cause of it.
(22:55):
People truly believe their own bullshit.
because they want to feel better about the position that they're in, the decisions they'vemade, the reactions and actions they've taken place in.
It is very hard, it is very difficult to take accountability and own what you've donewrong.
(23:18):
It is a very hard thing to do, but you know what?
If it was easy, everybody would do it.
But you know what?
At the same time, learn how to do it.
Your life will be easier.
Own it.
Own it and then think why that mistake happened.
Maybe you'll start making better decisions.
(23:39):
Maybe you'll start responding better.
Maybe you'll start enjoying your life a little bit more.
Well, and then you've got pretenders and then you've got people that actually do it.
Like, that says they're a business broker shouldn't be arguing in this way because theyare certified.
(24:00):
If they were certified, they'd give a shit, they would do things the right way and theywouldn't argue against real accounting.
They wouldn't try and justify all of the mistakes.
all the issues just to serve the agenda of getting a higher asking price.
The truth is, the business isn't worth as much as you want to get it for and yeah it'sgoing to affect your commission or whatever but if you can't put lipstick on a pig, it's
(24:30):
still a pig.
So Ted, yeah.
So...
yeah.
I'm getting annoyed now.
Just thinking about this stuff, just...
ugh.
every single time we've gotten some crap thrown at us this week, which has just beennonstop for whatever reason, I just take it as inspiration to just keep going.
(24:51):
Let the trash take itself out.
I'm good.
Like it just, I mean, I have great self-esteem, so that's not a worry.
But every time something like this happens, I'm like, yep, this is why I do what I do.
I'm freaking amazing because...
I mean, don't get me wrong, I am dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to common sense anda whole bunch of other things, but accounting taxes, anything in those fields, I'm your
(25:20):
chick all day long.
But, you know, just know what you're good at, own it, take accountability, say you'resorry, admit that you messed up.
Like, it's not that hard.
You don't have to, you know.
Buy flowers and it's not that you just go, am so I'm sorry.
(25:41):
I apologize.
I messed up.
What do I need to do this right?
That's it.
Take the accountability.
Own your mistake.
I didn't realize it was that hard.
I really didn't.
But it is to a lot of people.
can be hard and that shows a maturity I think and some people just don't have it and won'thave it so...
(26:12):
Yeah, it's tough.
Do we want to talk about any other?
I there's so much stuff that's gone on this week that we could go on about...
Bad people.
I don't know if we want to just keep diving down that rabbit hole, because I do havesomething else that we should probably touch on that happened that was this week and that
(26:37):
was purple day.
yeah, purple day.
We haven't talked about why we do what we do.
Talked about some of the legacy.
So for those of you that don't know what Purple Day is, I didn't know enough about it.
Purple Day is the Global Epilepsy Awareness Day, which was on March 26th.
(26:58):
It's known as Purple Day and the idea is to raise awareness, show support and spreadunderstanding about epilepsy.
This is massive for us and it's really important because
Mary unfortunately lost Alexis and AJ, both of her kids, to epilepsy.
So we put out posts, we put out the socials, the emails, all about that but we haven'ttold the stories yet.
(27:27):
We will get to, we will do it someday, probably soon, but Mary's gone through a massivejourney.
She credits me for a lot of it which doesn't sound right and you know, I don't agree withit.
But yeah, what can you help us understand a little bit more, Mary, about the journey, theday, what do you want to see come from it?
(27:55):
just, I mean, be aware.
I mean, the smallest things I remember.
It was after my son, my daughter passed first, then my son.
And I was coming out of a building with a friend.
were going to get lunch and I saw a guy on the sidewalk having a seizure.
(28:18):
And I ran over and of course I know what to do because my kids had it for their wholelife.
But you there is no, you can't swallow your tongue.
know, do, take a course.
Go research, find out what you need to do.
Like, there is no swallowing tongues.
(28:38):
There's no baby seizures versus big seizures.
mean, yeah, there's grand mal seizures, or I don't know what the new term is, and petitemal.
There's all sorts of seizures.
you know, understand that that person's brain, even if they have one, your brain isgetting scrambled.
It's like being thrown around a room, but it's only your head.
(29:04):
You know, it's a real thing.
People one in, I believe it's one in 50 people with epilepsy die from SUDEP.
That is what my children died from.
is SUDEP sudden unexpected death due to epilepsy.
and you just be aware of it, be aware of it.
(29:26):
And there is, there is nothing that will shake you like losing a child.
let alone all of them.
But that's kind of insight on why I'm so passionate about what I do.
Because you know what?
This is what I get to be passionate about, about helping and about raising awareness,about giving security to the one thing you can be secure with, which I say often, but the
(29:52):
reason why is because everything else is up for grabs.
I would have never, when I was pregnant with my kids, would have never thought I wouldlose them, but I did and it happened.
But you know what?
Finances you can take control over.
You can't control over diseases.
You just do what you can.
Yeah, which is why we started our nonprofit that we're to be really getting into after taxseason, but it's taken Mary pretty much eight.
(30:22):
It was basically eight years.
Yeah, six to eight, 10.
Yeah, from Alexis.
Yeah.
So before you really starting to get through this.
And so what we're doing is we're starting the seventh inning stretch where it's going tohelp support people that have gone through.
similar circumstances to Mary where they've survived kids, early ages, they've, you nowwhat?
(30:50):
They now have to live their golden ages without what they thought they would, so we wantto be that support and resource.
Yeah, I don't want you to survive.
mean, I want you to survive, but I want you to thrive.
Because I am thriving and it seems so weird to hear that.
But I am.
(31:10):
We are.
There is life.
So embrace it.
Love it.
Even when the crap is happening that you don't expect and you're like, today, I said toStephen, oh, I'm done.
I don't even care.
And then I was like, OK, what's next?
What's next?
He was like, I need a nap, you're exhausting me.
(31:30):
Yeah, it was kind of that flip of the switch, was a little crazy.
But yeah, the 7th and 7th stretch foundation.
If you go to Mary X.
Thank th ang.com right now, we're working on that.
It's going to be updated.
We'll have a lot of stuff going.
Right now you guys can just go to epilepsy.com to donate and learn more about that stuff.
(31:55):
And I say that stuff as though it's a little thing.
Jesus.
You know, you learn more about epilepsy, how to help, how to support and help with theresearch.
But yeah, that's a massive part of why we do what we do and we'll get into that more inanother time.
(32:17):
But yeah, definitely Alexis and AJ are always in the thought process of what we do.
So yeah, we got to celebrate a little bit and...
Yep.
And that's why we have purple all over the place for epilepsy.
So.
That's why purple is the color of RCV in Peace Love Biz.
(32:39):
Like, that's what it is.
People are like, why does have to be purple?
It's like, because it has to be purple.
Yeah, we've had people tell me that it can't be purple.
I'm like, well, guess what?
You don't have a job anymore.
Goodbye.
Yeah
because it's my company and I'm gonna do what I want and I want it purple.
(32:59):
I don't make huge demands.
I want the color purple, not the movie.
But like, you don't have to like it.
You just don't, you're not gonna work with me anymore.
We're good, bye bye.
So anyway.
the only thing Mary asks for.
So, yeah.
(33:20):
You'll hear more news about the foundation and all that coming soon.
We've got a lot of tax season to get through and then we'll get into that.
In the meantime, if you guys want help with business coaching, business growth, taxes,accounting, finances, any of that stuff, go to peacelovebiz.com.
Peace.
(33:41):
luvbiz.com and schedule an appointment.
We'll meet, we'll talk, we'll see what we can do to help and yeah, we're here, we've gotyou.
Awesome.
That's a wrap.
I we did it.
So, until next time guys, have a peaceful day.
(34:01):
peaceful week.
Weekend.
Enjoy life.
Appreciate that you do have someone that does your taxes.
See you next time
Bye.
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Peace, Love, Biz.
I'm your host, Steve Higgins, sitting here with Mary.
We are deep into tax season.
We are kicking butt.
Mary is just going all hours of the day, just completely dominating.
I think there's going to be a general theme for this episode, which is going to be aninteresting one to talk about.
(00:27):
But before we dive into that, how are you doing, Mary?
I am so amazing.
So, so, so, so amazing.
I know you're amazing, but how are you?
Um, you know, I'm kicking ass, kicking ass.
Um, so yeah, I don't, don't, well, I know how I'm doing it.
(00:48):
I'm just doing it because like, I love what we do.
I have so much energy.
I mean, I crash at night.
It takes me three, four hours to shut down.
Wine helps.
I'll own that.
Wine is getting me through tax season.
It's the only way to turn my brain off.
But, um,
I started with 170 returns and I'm down to 106.
(01:13):
And 70...
Yeah, so I've done, I've done, well no, over 170, but I've done 70 in like five days.
Yeah, and the whole goal of this year was to make sure that it was sticking a tax seasonand not tax year.
Definitely on track for that, which is going to be amazing.
(01:39):
why don't we talk?
So this is going to be a fun discussion because with what we do and the way that weoperate, we operate with integrity, clear communication, this is what we need from you,
this is what we're going to give to you and tell us what you need from us.
(02:02):
We set very clear expectations from the start.
Yeah, absolutely.
And what we are encountering, the people that I'm talking to that need help, more thannine out of ten people are being gatecapped.
They are having a fight for their financial information from other firms, accountants,bookkeepers, CPAs, whatever it is.
(02:30):
And it's quite frankly ridiculous.
It's unethical.
They basically want to hold you hostage and keep your information from you.
And it's a massive red flag.
That's why...
turn over willingly, it's like takes like it's a 12 step program to get it done.
(02:52):
It's all legal.
You have to go through all legal channels to get it.
So, but I will say that I've told you about this prior to us doing this business togetherand like you believed it, but you never realized how much it happens.
And this week, literally nine out of 10 people we've even countered, it's happened.
(03:13):
Yeah.
The is, it's not always easy to recognise immediately, but what would you say are some redflags, some key indicators that this kind of thing might happen when going through this
onboarding process or something like that?
(03:34):
Well, to start with whatever software they're using, if it's something like QuickBooksOnline, if they're the primary admin of it, then they're holding, they're going to hold
your books hostage.
We, I make a point to not be primary admin.
When, when I, I make sure that the business owner is a primary admin and that I haveaccountant access only.
(04:02):
because
If something happens, don't...
Dude, that's you.
I will never hold someone's book's hostage.
Won't do it.
You're just setting up for bad karma?
I mean...
you're gonna get a bad reputation on top of it.
It's like, whoa.
(04:23):
They don't want you around, they don't want you around.
Just be okay with it.
Yeah, people, service providers need to be okay in the fact that look, some people willonly want you to do certain things and we're okay with that.
That's just how you want to run your business.
But it comes to a point where if you can't even have access to your own financial reports,you can't take them out of a remote desktop software or something like that because they
(04:53):
want to keep you under lock and key.
That's why my name today is the Locksmith.
because we're trying to pick those locks and gatekeep software so that's a massive redflag.
People still using QuickBooks desktop is a red flag to me in this day and age.
this week when we had to do that.
(05:13):
my God, you saw me.
was like, ooh, I mean, the last time I used QuickBooks desktop, my son was alive.
What does that say?
I mean, it's been eight years.
mean, that's how long is the last time I've touched QuickBooks desktop.
I didn't even know that was a thing.
Like that's like, what, what?
That's like somebody asking for a fax number.
(05:34):
That's where that is equitable to me.
It's like,
Yeah, and when you...
When the owner of the company is not able to then export or manage any company datathrough that software, it's like massive alarm sirens going off.
It's like, this is a little nuts.
(05:55):
We're have to figure out...
the sad part is, that up like there should be a lot of red flags.
mean, you should be paying attention to red flags.
God knows we've all been in some type of relationship, whether it's, you know, romantic orfriendship or trend, you know, with an accountant or with a lawyer.
You see red flags all the time.
(06:16):
We choose to either pay attention or to ignore them.
That's what we choose to do.
If you're paying attention, then
Get a plan in action in place.
You may not be able to do something overnight, but at least get a plan in action in place.
If you're ignoring them, boo boo, this is your fault.
Pay attention to it.
(06:38):
I'm a big person, pay attention to what's happening around you.
So it's not like all of sudden you can't access your financials or they're not responding.
They've been doing this.
They've been ignoring you.
You have not been able to communicate.
You have not been able to get this.
And now you're done.
(06:59):
And I'm not sure why anybody's surprised at this point that the accountant shouldn't besurprised that the client's done.
The client shouldn't be surprised that the accountant's holding them hostage.
Although ethically wrong, they should still not be surprised by it because the actionshave shown all this trending this way.
(07:22):
think you know exactly right and know communication is a massive part of it and there's afew different facets to that.
First off any and if there is any communication for one if your accountant just wants tosee you at tax time bring you receipts like that's not a relationship that's a
transaction.
(07:42):
Yeah.
And if they want you to bring receipts to them, that right there, don't ever send me areceipt.
You better scan that crap.
I don't want to see paper.
Sorry.
no, and that wasn't really where I was going with it, but yeah, that's a fair point aswell.
You know, we're not in that day and age anymore.
(08:03):
But the other thing is how clear and concise is the account or are they just giving youvague answers that sound good but have zero substance?
Why that's something that people really need to watch for.
What's unfortunate is there are so many good accountants in the industry, it feels likethere's two types of accountants now where it's you've got those that really want to take
(08:32):
care, they want to go above and beyond, but then you've got others where it's like, okay,we'll see you at tax time.
And that's it.
If at that point you wonder if, you know, shoot, you may as just go to H &R Block, right?
right now I'm laughing because I know I'm really trying hard to think.
I know one other good accountant, like on my level.
(08:59):
I mean, besides the ones that work for us, to clarify.
But I do partner with him.
And that's why we've stayed, we partner.
He handles a lot of certain things that I don't handle.
I pass off to him because I just don't like to do it.
And he doesn't like to do the stuff I do.
But like, so I can't, I mean, maybe there are good accountants.
(09:20):
I don't know anybody.
I know one and then our people, but that
The problem is people don't do what they love.
They're not passionate about it.
We're almost too accessible, but thank God I do not disturb that my phone automaticallygoes on at seven o'clock every night, because I got a text message at one o'clock in the
(09:45):
morning from a client.
And they know if I'm up, I'll respond.
That's the sad part.
And I will.
I will.
I'll be like, I'm up.
What do you need?
Blah, blah,
Yeah, there's not there's not the investment.
You got to do what you love, man.
Accountants, I get it.
People have jobs, but jobs are just over broke.
That's what job stands for.
(10:05):
Just over broke.
mean, get up, get a profession, do something you love, be passionate about it.
Like you only get to go around one time.
Like make every moment happen.
And we've had a lot of frustrating moments this week.
Super frustrating.
Like.
They just don't stop.
(10:26):
It's not just the 70 taxes that have been done in five days.
It's 70 taxes jumping on it last minute phone calls because people have their financialsbeing held hostage, all this other stuff.
Yastra's, a client of ours started another business, stopped what I was doing, jumped inand handled that, set that up.
But I love it.
(10:47):
I absolutely love what I do.
So find something you like to do and do it.
Don't let your accountants hold your stuff hostage.
Find someone that loves to help and loves to get business growth and just find somebody.
Yeah, and my dad's gonna kill me but he told me when I was trying to figure out what Iwant to do is like do something that you really love or do something that you're really
(11:16):
good at and we'll make you money and thankfully with what you do and what I do I thinkwe've got that good I say happy medium because we are making decent money we're doing what
we love so we've got both of those components but
Not everybody's gonna find that.
(11:37):
But...
Don't...
But get out of the way of the people that wanna do that.
Like...
So...
And like you can have a you can have I mean, you can have a lot of work experience and alot of things like I have experience in a lot of different avenues, but I love accounting
and taxes.
(11:58):
So I stick with that.
That's what I love to do.
That's what I stick with.
Stick with what you like to do.
I can't tell you how many times and Stephen knows this.
I would say this is a nine out of 10 for sure.
Like every person that we've onboarded.
Rarely do we have someone go, I have no idea what I'm doing, I need you to handle it.
(12:20):
We have, oh, I know how to do my own books.
Well, they're wrong.
So you don't.
how many times we go into new clients that says I've done my own books for years and I'mthey're so wrong and I mean like you look at it and it's like well there's technical
(12:41):
accuracies no that's another story that we'll get into in a little bit but like there's
You don't do your own plumbing, you don't do your own electrical work, you're gonna killyourself.
You're essentially doing that to your business if you don't have a professional.
(13:03):
Do your books, do your accounting, do your legal agreements.
It doesn't matter what it is, stick to what you're good at.
We tell our restaurant owner, go cook the meals, not the books.
Go chef, go do what you love.
So.
Yeah.
(13:24):
But and back to like good accountant, like the red flags, they're holding the stuffhostage.
They don't have time for you.
You're a number.
If I mean, if that's what you want, go for it.
Be a transaction.
I mean, that's fine.
You know, but if you want help with your business and you want to have information and youwant, you know, feedback and help affording a home and help doing all those things like we
(13:50):
were talking about last week.
You do not want a transactional relationship with your accountant.
And we don't, we do not do that.
I don't want anything transactional.
That's not me.
Like, bye.
You can go find somebody for that.
It's not me.
I have no desire for it.
I think the other thing is we get too emotionally invested in a lot of our clients.
(14:15):
That's a struggle that I was talking about that last night with Rach and it's like, Ithink I've got a problem.
It's like, I can't shut my brain off thinking about client businesses, helping them,figuring out ways to make them grow.
But I also wonder how much they care about the feedback, how much they want the feedback.
And that's my own struggle, I guess, at this point.
(14:39):
I also think that like, I hate using this because I hated when I had to hear it, but I dothink age has something to do with it and experience has something to do with it.
Like I have my cutoff point.
I just don't, I get to a point where I have done everything I to help you.
You are not responding.
(14:59):
Bye.
I'm done.
And I am very much, I'm a Leo.
I'm very black and white.
your best friend and your worst enemy.
And worst enemy, not that I'm going to do something to you, like I am done.
You are dead to me.
I don't know what else to tell you.
I could care less.
(15:19):
Now that part you're not, you don't have, but I definitely have it.
That's more of my sales mentality though because in sales you've always got to...
That one time that you don't reach out is going to be the missing in a sale.
Right?
So I've just got that ingrained in me that I will give somebody that one more chance to dosomething and it...
(15:44):
I think that is to my detriment but it's also...
Yeah, it's painful.
I just, I have, I, I mean, also it's, you know, because of my incredibly, you can't makethis shit up life, that I go, it's just not worth it anymore.
I don't give a fuck how much money I could be walking away from.
(16:06):
It's not worth my peace of mind.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Done.
And I'm learning that.
I'm learning that from you.
I'm learning it from Justin.
I'm learning it from others.
But shout out to Justin as well, by the way, for all of his help and guidance.
But yeah, it's.
It's a problem.
(16:29):
Moving on, similar type of vein, I mentioned technical accuracies.
Mary had.
God, I really forgot how much drama has happened this week.
I'm like, crap, that was this week too.
Everything was this week.
(16:49):
We've been helping a friend who's looking at buying a business and Mary provided aforensic audit.
The feedback from the business broker is hysterical, it's alarming in the fact thatsomebody thinks that true accounting is technically accurate and it isn't pointing out the
(17:11):
fact that most of the stuff is illegally presented.
But yeah, what-
What do you want to say about that?
there's not...
There's not versions of the truth.
I can't remember who said that.
But I know I heard it from somewhere.
(17:32):
But there's not versions of the truth.
There's just the truth.
I know it's from a TV show.
I know you're gonna Google it and tell me, but yeah.
It's the truth or it's not.
That's it.
There's just not versions of it.
I don't know how else to get that across.
So the same thing is with accounting.
(17:56):
Accounting is binary.
Like it just is what it is.
You can't go, well, it's kind of different for a small business.
no, I mean, I swear this week I have said more times between ethics and do people are
(18:16):
People have a desire to see the inside of a jail cell.
Because there's this big word called fraud.
It's a big little word.
Five letters that...
Yeah.
You know, it's like, that's fraud.
don't, I don't know, maybe because, maybe because there was somebody convicted on like 34counts of it and still became president, they're not worried.
(18:43):
I don't know, but I can tell you, he's good.
Like, he's not in jail.
That doesn't mean you're not gonna be in jail.
That's just him, dude.
That's just him.
Yeah.
Front of Srad.
I mean...
(19:03):
And you might not be going to jail, right?
So that's like the worst case scenario.
But the other thing is that the more reality is, is that at some point it's going to biteyou in the butt.
You don't...
I testified in court where a guy presented all his W-2s so he could get a loan for hishouse and he got the loan for a house and it was a VA loan.
(19:29):
So it's federally backed.
mean, everything's federally backed, but it was truly federally backed, origination point.
But when it came to talent support, somehow he had no income.
I remember this one.
And he said literally, and he was his own attorney.
(19:50):
So that should tell you everything right there.
You don't get to have W-2 income for whatever year to qualify for a loan and then go, Idon't have any.
And then he says, well, don't you know, you can pull down a W-2 and make one online.
And I said, I'm a forensic accountant.
(20:11):
I'm not.
I'm not an expert in how to commit fraud.
I'm an expert on how to say it.
What is fraud?
And what ended up happening?
I mean, his choice really came down to, was the judge's decision, it came down to eitheryou got a fraudulent loan from the federal government or you're to pay $150,000 in child
(20:33):
support.
And he had to pay a lot of money in child support.
You just don't get to have both of it.
It's gonna bite you in the butt at some point.
It's just going to.
Yeah, like depreciation or car expense.
Yeah.
you don't, yeah.
(20:55):
There's like 10 bullet points on that.
Yeah, numbers tell a story.
I think we talked about this.
There's a few things I want to touch on with this story, but numbers do tell a story.
You can't argue what the story is to suit your own agenda.
The numbers tell the story.
(21:17):
You can't say that a business that has been declining year over year for last five yearsis gonna just bounce back because of new ownership.
It's possible because, you know, there's somebody that actually gives a shit about thebusiness and...
But we talked about how business owners that are looking to sell need to get into theprocess earlier of...
(21:45):
I to sell the business early, it takes time to get the right stuff in place.
You cannot say...
Yeah, I don't really know where I'm going with this.
really think the key of all of it with everything we're talking about, for me the keyreally is, I'm not this person, but in general, I think most people are very comfortable
(22:12):
lying to themselves to the point that they believe their own lie.
And that's just, that's not reality.
Like, I mean, maybe you've convinced yourself that's real.
That doesn't make it real.
I mean, that's really what it's coming down to.
(22:34):
I could tell myself I'm a size eight every day, but I'm not.
If I believe it, doesn't make me a size eight.
It doesn't make me 150 pounds.
It just doesn't.
I don't, I can't understand the mentality, but I do think that's the cause of it.
(22:55):
People truly believe their own bullshit.
because they want to feel better about the position that they're in, the decisions they'vemade, the reactions and actions they've taken place in.
It is very hard, it is very difficult to take accountability and own what you've donewrong.
(23:18):
It is a very hard thing to do, but you know what?
If it was easy, everybody would do it.
But you know what?
At the same time, learn how to do it.
Your life will be easier.
Own it.
Own it and then think why that mistake happened.
Maybe you'll start making better decisions.
(23:39):
Maybe you'll start responding better.
Maybe you'll start enjoying your life a little bit more.
Well, and then you've got pretenders and then you've got people that actually do it.
Like, that says they're a business broker shouldn't be arguing in this way because theyare certified.
(24:00):
If they were certified, they'd give a shit, they would do things the right way and theywouldn't argue against real accounting.
They wouldn't try and justify all of the mistakes.
all the issues just to serve the agenda of getting a higher asking price.
The truth is, the business isn't worth as much as you want to get it for and yeah it'sgoing to affect your commission or whatever but if you can't put lipstick on a pig, it's
(24:30):
still a pig.
So Ted, yeah.
So...
yeah.
I'm getting annoyed now.
Just thinking about this stuff, just...
ugh.
every single time we've gotten some crap thrown at us this week, which has just beennonstop for whatever reason, I just take it as inspiration to just keep going.
(24:51):
Let the trash take itself out.
I'm good.
Like it just, I mean, I have great self-esteem, so that's not a worry.
But every time something like this happens, I'm like, yep, this is why I do what I do.
I'm freaking amazing because...
I mean, don't get me wrong, I am dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to common sense anda whole bunch of other things, but accounting taxes, anything in those fields, I'm your
(25:20):
chick all day long.
But, you know, just know what you're good at, own it, take accountability, say you'resorry, admit that you messed up.
Like, it's not that hard.
You don't have to, you know.
Buy flowers and it's not that you just go, am so I'm sorry.
(25:41):
I apologize.
I messed up.
What do I need to do this right?
That's it.
Take the accountability.
Own your mistake.
I didn't realize it was that hard.
I really didn't.
But it is to a lot of people.
can be hard and that shows a maturity I think and some people just don't have it and won'thave it so...
(26:12):
Yeah, it's tough.
Do we want to talk about any other?
I there's so much stuff that's gone on this week that we could go on about...
Bad people.
I don't know if we want to just keep diving down that rabbit hole, because I do havesomething else that we should probably touch on that happened that was this week and that
(26:37):
was purple day.
yeah, purple day.
We haven't talked about why we do what we do.
Talked about some of the legacy.
So for those of you that don't know what Purple Day is, I didn't know enough about it.
Purple Day is the Global Epilepsy Awareness Day, which was on March 26th.
(26:58):
It's known as Purple Day and the idea is to raise awareness, show support and spreadunderstanding about epilepsy.
This is massive for us and it's really important because
Mary unfortunately lost Alexis and AJ, both of her kids, to epilepsy.
So we put out posts, we put out the socials, the emails, all about that but we haven'ttold the stories yet.
(27:27):
We will get to, we will do it someday, probably soon, but Mary's gone through a massivejourney.
She credits me for a lot of it which doesn't sound right and you know, I don't agree withit.
But yeah, what can you help us understand a little bit more, Mary, about the journey, theday, what do you want to see come from it?
(27:55):
just, I mean, be aware.
I mean, the smallest things I remember.
It was after my son, my daughter passed first, then my son.
And I was coming out of a building with a friend.
were going to get lunch and I saw a guy on the sidewalk having a seizure.
(28:18):
And I ran over and of course I know what to do because my kids had it for their wholelife.
But you there is no, you can't swallow your tongue.
know, do, take a course.
Go research, find out what you need to do.
Like, there is no swallowing tongues.
(28:38):
There's no baby seizures versus big seizures.
mean, yeah, there's grand mal seizures, or I don't know what the new term is, and petitemal.
There's all sorts of seizures.
you know, understand that that person's brain, even if they have one, your brain isgetting scrambled.
It's like being thrown around a room, but it's only your head.
(29:04):
You know, it's a real thing.
People one in, I believe it's one in 50 people with epilepsy die from SUDEP.
That is what my children died from.
is SUDEP sudden unexpected death due to epilepsy.
and you just be aware of it, be aware of it.
(29:26):
And there is, there is nothing that will shake you like losing a child.
let alone all of them.
But that's kind of insight on why I'm so passionate about what I do.
Because you know what?
This is what I get to be passionate about, about helping and about raising awareness,about giving security to the one thing you can be secure with, which I say often, but the
(29:52):
reason why is because everything else is up for grabs.
I would have never, when I was pregnant with my kids, would have never thought I wouldlose them, but I did and it happened.
But you know what?
Finances you can take control over.
You can't control over diseases.
You just do what you can.
Yeah, which is why we started our nonprofit that we're to be really getting into after taxseason, but it's taken Mary pretty much eight.
(30:22):
It was basically eight years.
Yeah, six to eight, 10.
Yeah, from Alexis.
Yeah.
So before you really starting to get through this.
And so what we're doing is we're starting the seventh inning stretch where it's going tohelp support people that have gone through.
similar circumstances to Mary where they've survived kids, early ages, they've, you nowwhat?
(30:50):
They now have to live their golden ages without what they thought they would, so we wantto be that support and resource.
Yeah, I don't want you to survive.
mean, I want you to survive, but I want you to thrive.
Because I am thriving and it seems so weird to hear that.
But I am.
(31:10):
We are.
There is life.
So embrace it.
Love it.
Even when the crap is happening that you don't expect and you're like, today, I said toStephen, oh, I'm done.
I don't even care.
And then I was like, OK, what's next?
What's next?
He was like, I need a nap, you're exhausting me.
(31:30):
Yeah, it was kind of that flip of the switch, was a little crazy.
But yeah, the 7th and 7th stretch foundation.
If you go to Mary X.
Thank th ang.com right now, we're working on that.
It's going to be updated.
We'll have a lot of stuff going.
Right now you guys can just go to epilepsy.com to donate and learn more about that stuff.
(31:55):
And I say that stuff as though it's a little thing.
Jesus.
You know, you learn more about epilepsy, how to help, how to support and help with theresearch.
But yeah, that's a massive part of why we do what we do and we'll get into that more inanother time.
(32:17):
But yeah, definitely Alexis and AJ are always in the thought process of what we do.
So yeah, we got to celebrate a little bit and...
Yep.
And that's why we have purple all over the place for epilepsy.
So.
That's why purple is the color of RCV in Peace Love Biz.
(32:39):
Like, that's what it is.
People are like, why does have to be purple?
It's like, because it has to be purple.
Yeah, we've had people tell me that it can't be purple.
I'm like, well, guess what?
You don't have a job anymore.
Goodbye.
Yeah
because it's my company and I'm gonna do what I want and I want it purple.
(32:59):
I don't make huge demands.
I want the color purple, not the movie.
But like, you don't have to like it.
You just don't, you're not gonna work with me anymore.
We're good, bye bye.
So anyway.
the only thing Mary asks for.
So, yeah.
(33:20):
You'll hear more news about the foundation and all that coming soon.
We've got a lot of tax season to get through and then we'll get into that.
In the meantime, if you guys want help with business coaching, business growth, taxes,accounting, finances, any of that stuff, go to peacelovebiz.com.
Peace.
(33:41):
luvbiz.com and schedule an appointment.
We'll meet, we'll talk, we'll see what we can do to help and yeah, we're here, we've gotyou.
Awesome.
That's a wrap.
I we did it.
So, until next time guys, have a peaceful day.
(34:01):
peaceful week.
Weekend.
Enjoy life.
Appreciate that you do have someone that does your taxes.
See you next time
Bye.
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